


First Law of Family Dynamics

by ioanite



Category: Fantastic Four (Movies 2005-2007)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Post-Canon, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:09:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21945631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ioanite/pseuds/ioanite
Summary: Relationships of any kind require a certain amount of give and take. Now that the Fantastic Four are a team (and three of them are going to be related to each other), everyone does what they can to figure this out.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 20
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	First Law of Family Dynamics

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BookGirlFan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookGirlFan/gifts).



> Sue is involved in this story, but since she doesn't have any spoken dialogue, I didn't know if I should tag her. Let me know if I should and I'll fix it.
> 
> The prompt that inspired this: "I will take just about anything as long as it has Reed in it as the main character and in a positive light. He is my favourite of the Fantastic Four, particularly in these movies. As much as I love Chris Evans, I do get annoyed at how much of the fic for these movies is centred around Johnny. Give me more Reed!"
> 
> Well, given my username, this was pretty much inevitable...
> 
> Happy Yuletide, BookGirlFan, from one Reed fan to another!

“Mornin’, Stretch.” Ben said as Reed entered the kitchen. Then, after taking a second look, “Or is it evening for you at this point?”

Reed chuckled. “Pretty much. I think I went into the lab at about eight last night, and it’s what, nine AM now?”

“Ten. Gotta admit, I admire your stamina. Most of us lose the will to do that after college. Keep this up and you’re gonna go prematurely grey. Well, greyer.”

Reed ran his fingers through his hair, lingering a bit at the temple. “I think it makes me look distinguished.”

“I think it makes you look like a raccoon.”

“Good morning to you too, Johnny,” Reed said without turning around, “Keep up the compliments like that and I’ll rethink my idea of designing you a car that can use your flames to go faster.”

“Shutting up.” Johnny said immediately. Both Reed and Ben smirked. Reed moved to the cupboards and started considering his various breakfast options. As he did so, he said;

“Have either of you seen Sue yet this morning?”

“Briefly,” Ben answered, “She had some coffee and toast and then said she was heading out. Not sure what she’s up to, but she said she’d definitely be back by dinner.”

Reed was a bit disappointed—he’d been hoping he could at least give her a “Sorry for staying up all night/thank you for putting up with me” kiss—but since there wasn’t much he could do about it, he’d just have to wait until she got back. Deciding he was more in the mood for lunch than breakfast, he crossed over to the fridge to look for sandwich ingredients. “Do you two have any plans for the day?”

“The usual,” Johnny said with a shrug, “Head on out to the city to see if I can find anything fun to do…that hopefully won’t involve lighting anything on fire.” He added, when Reed gave him a look.

“I don’t have much goin’ on today, but I’ve made plans to get together with Alicia this evening.” Ben said, “Why do you ask? You need us for somethin’?”

“No,” Reed answered, “Just curious.”

“Wait wait wait,” Johnny said, grinning, “Are you…are you trying to make _small talk_?” He gave a mock gasp. “Did the chemicals you were working with scramble your brain?”

Reed gave him another, more exasperated look. “Is it really so strange that I’d want to know how everyone’s doing? We may have dealt with Doom and the public may have accepted us as superheroes, but I think all of us are still adjusting to everything that’s happened in the last year. I just want to make sure everyone’s doing all right. Besides, we live together and work as a team; why _wouldn’t_ I be interested in everyone’s well-being?”

“To be fair, Stretch, that’s generally not the way you operate,” Ben pointed out, “You spend a lot more time in your head than you do in the real world.”

“Guilty as charged,” Reed admitted, “But I thought it was high time I tried to change that. I’m still probably going to spend hours holed up in my lab, especially when I get a new idea, but I want to at least try to make an effort to spend more time with the rest of you. After everything I put you through, I owe you that much.”

Ben’s eyes softened. “Nice of ya, Reed. But as bic-head over there just proved, we’re kinda used to you bein’ a recluse. I know Sue’ll definitely encourage you to keep it up, and I’m not complainin’ either, but we’ll need time to get used to it. So expect a lot more ribbing like that for awhile.”

Johnny pulled a face at Ben, who responded in kind. Reed chuckled again and finished making his sandwich. “Then I’ll do what I can to put up with it. Though I suppose I’d have to get used to it anyway, given who I’m living with.”

“Hey!” Johnny said, though he didn’t seem too upset by the comment. Ben smirked and went back to reading the paper. Reed sat down with his sandwich and took the sections Ben had finished, enjoying the contented silence that fell as the three of them ate. He liked having a certain amount of background noise in his life—mostly the bubbling of chemicals or the hum of machinery—but there was something to be said for peace and quiet every now and then.

***

Reed managed to keep up a more normal (well, normal for most people) routine for about a week. Then he had an idea for beefing up security around the Baxter Building, and started burning the midnight oil in his lab again, sketching out plans and writing reams of code. On the few occasions when he left his lab to grab a bite to eat or get some sleep, he felt a pang of guilt for falling into his old habits, but didn’t want to lose the inspiration he was feeling, so kept at it. If he happened to run into Johnny, Ben, or Sue, he’d apologize, both for disturbing them and for locking himself in the lab again. Johnny didn’t seem to care, Ben shrugged and said it was fine, and Sue sighed and gave him an understanding smile. Reed tried to swear to himself that once he’d implemented the security system, he’d lock up the lab for at least a month, but he knew he was just fooling himself. Though he was determined to make it at least two weeks this time.

While he spent most of his time looking at blueprints or a computer screen, Reed wasn’t _entirely_ oblivious to everything else going on around him. Ten days after he started working on his project, he glanced out the window and saw that it was snowing. It continued to snow in light flurries from then on out, and sometimes Reed would take a brief break from working and admire the view. The change in weather also brought on a change in temperature, which Reed noticed but tried to ignore. While his financial situation was on the upswing after he and the others had committed to being superheroes, it would still take a while to build his savings back up. Therefore, in order to reduce costs, he kept the heat down in his lab (though not in the living quarters; he wouldn’t ask the others to freeze), buttoning up his lab coat and using his powers to allow him to coil up in his chair to retain as much warmth as possible. He was often able to ignore the discomfort once he got to a particularly crucial piece of design or code, but if he started shivering or felt like his hands were growing stiff, he’d get up from his chair and walk around the lab a few times, allowing him to admire the view and warm himself up all in one. And if even that wasn’t enough, he’d go downstairs to make himself a hot drink (the caffeine was an added bonus), taking advantage of the break to absorb as much warmth as possible. Sometimes he’d linger a bit longer to get some food or talk with the others, but the drive to create would eventually outweigh his desire for warmth, and it wouldn’t be long before he was heading back up to the lab again.

One afternoon, Reed was coding on the computer when he heard the elevator door ping. Since the others tended to stay away from the lab when he was engrossed in a project, he assumed something had happened. “What’s going on?” he asked, pushing his chair around and starting to morph himself back into the proper shape, “Is the city under attack?”

“No,” Johnny replied, and Reed was surprised when he realized none of the others were with him, “I think the weather’s keeping the villains indoors. I just came up to bring you this.” He held out a mug of something steaming. “Careful, though, it’s hot.”

He wasn’t joking about that; as Reed approached to take the mug (stretching for it just increased the odds that he’d spill it), he realized that the liquid inside was still bubbling pretty violently. He immediately stretched a hand across the lab to grab the heat-resistant gloves, while Johnny smirked proudly. “Figured I’d make sure it was still hot by the time it got to you. Maybe it’ll take longer to cool down, too.”

“I appreciate the thought, Johnny,” Reed said, putting on the gloves and finally taking the drink, “But…why are you…?”

“Group vote,” Johnny explained, “Sue picked up this new drink, some sort of apple tea that isn’t really tea, and thought everyone should try it at the same time, or at least on the same day. Ben agreed, and I went along with it. Since I’m so hot,” he smirked a bit, “I volunteered to bring it to you.”

“Well, thank you.” Reed said, cupping the drink in his hands. Even with the gloves, the warmth was seeping through and felt great against his palms. Then something occurred to him. “Does Sue want to hear my opinion on how it tastes?”

“Probably eventually, but not right away. You probably don’t want to stand around and let your beakers get cold or whatever, and I don’t want to stand around, period. Just let her know when you finally come down to grab some food, and that should be fine.”

Reed nodded. “Fair enough. Thanks again, Johnny, and thank Sue for thinking of me.”

“Will do.” Johnny said. Then with a wave, he turned back to the elevator. Reed went back to his computer, keeping one hand (still gloved) on the mug while he typed with the other hand. Once it seemed cool enough to drink, he sipped slowly, trying to wring as much warmth out of it as possible. The taste was fine, something like hot cider with an unidentifiable spice, but it was the warmth that he really savored. After some careful maneuvering, he was even able to contort his body in a way that he could keep the mug pressed to his chest, heating up his core and dispersing the warmth to a wider area of his body. It was only hot enough to be truly effective for twenty minutes, but the residual heat lingered for at least another five, which was more than enough time for Reed to lose himself in his code and stop paying as much attention to his physical discomfort.

He was still in that trance, in fact, when a heavy knock came at the lab door. He was startled enough to jump, the chair rolling back a bit from the desk. “Easy, Stretch,” Ben’s voice said, “It’s not an earthquake, it’s just me.”

“Sorry,” Reed said with a sheepish grin, turning around, “I was caught up in my work.”

“When are you not?” Ben pointed out with an answering grin, “That’s as much a part of you as Johnny’s being a dick.”

Reed tried not to smile. “As much as I know you love doing it, you didn’t come up here to complain about Johnny.”

“You’re right about that,” Ben answered, reaching down and picking up something behind him, “I opened a storage closet to see if there was anything in there I needed to keep out of Johnny’s hands, and I found this.”

It took a minute for Reed to identify it as a space heater. “Oh, that’s right, one of the other scientists who used to work with me had been talking about getting one for his room. I guess he followed through and then didn’t take it with him when he left. Small wonder; I think it was summer when he finally decided I was a crackpot.”

Ben chuckled. “His loss. It doesn’t take much to change a crackpot into a genius.” Then he held out the heater. “Anyway, I think we can safely call it ours now if he never came back to claim it. Want it?”’

Reed considered for a moment. It _would_ make at least part of the room warmer, and while it would still raise electricity costs, it would be much cheaper than using the built-in heating system. “Sure,” he said, standing up to take it from Ben, “Though if it’s really been sitting around here for a year, there’s no guarantee that it’ll work.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure it’ll take you all of five minutes to fix if that happens,” Ben said with a chuckle. “Heck, you could probably change it into a combination heater and coffee maker if you really wanted to.”

“A project for another time,” Reed said, wrapping his arms around the heater, “I have enough on my plate as it is.”

“Have some things been taken off the plate, at least?” Ben asked.

“More like they’ve all ended up mixed together so it’s hard to tell what’s what,” Reed admitted with a slight laugh, “But there’s less on the plate than there used to be.”

“That’s somethin’, at least,” Ben said, “Here’s hoping you can finish it off in a week or so. But now if you’ll excuse me, all this roundabout talk about food is making me hungry. Good luck with whatever course you’re on right now.”

With another grin, he turned and left, leaving Reed to grapple with the space heater. Fortunately, it wasn’t as heavy as it looked, and it didn’t take long for him to clear off the dust and set it up close to his workspace, even if an extension cord was required. When he gingerly pushed the button, it responded with a hum and a release of warm air, proving that it was still functional. Satisfied, Reed returned to his desk and resumed his coding. It didn’t take long for him to get absorbed in the task again, though he did notice peripherally that he was feeling much warmer.

While his mind was still sharp, racing with lines of code and trying to foresee potential problems, Reed’s body was ultimately the one in control. After several more hours of work (he wasn’t sure how long it had been, though he could at least tell it had gone dark outside) he felt his eyes growing heavy. After debating with himself for a minute, he decided to take a quick nap at his desk. That way, he could get some rest, but the discomfort that came from having his head on a hard desk would keep him from sleeping for too long. Pulling his chair even closer to his desk and changing to a different program on his computer to prevent any loss of progress should his face wind up rolling onto the keyboard, Reed rested his head on his arm and closed his eyes. It didn’t take long for him to drift off.

Reed wasn’t sure when he woke up, or even what woke him up, but as his mind came back online, he was able to tell something was different. Instead of feeling cool smoothness or the roughness of his lab coat, his cheek was resting against something soft and pliable. Furthermore, as he shifted his weight in preparation to sit up, he felt something brush against his sides, something that wasn’t his lab coat. More curious than concerned, Reed opened his eyes and sat up.

The first thing he saw was a small, semi-flat green-blue pillow resting on his desk, a relatively safe distance from the keyboard. Then he noticed something colorful in his periphery and looked down to see part of a plaid blanket resting on the armrest, which he quickly realized was also draped around his shoulders. Looking back at his desk, he saw a piece of paper stuck between the keys on the keyboard, and immediately reached for it. Unfolding it, he read;

_Reed,_

_I picked these up for you a while ago, figuring that you’d be spending long nights in your lab even if you stuck to your plan to spend more time interacting with us. That’s just who you are, after all, and if you’re willing to try to accommodate us, we should do the same for you._

_Given the recent cold snap, I thought now would be a good time to give these to you. I’d still prefer if you came downstairs to sleep in a real bed, even if it’s at three in the morning, but at least this way you’ll be a bit more comfortable. And warmer, apparently, judging from the overall temperature in here._

_I hope things are still going well. I look forward to hearing you explain how this new security system works whenever you finish it. Even if I end up only understanding every other word._

_Love,_

_Sue_

Reed smiled warmly and set the note down. Then he checked the time (nearly midnight), backed up his work, and shut down the computer. He’d done enough for tonight. And perhaps he’d get a late start tomorrow and have breakfast with the others. As with so many things, sometimes he needed outside inspiration to give him a good idea.


End file.
